In the main event of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, Chris Arreola defeated journeyman Kendrick Releford with a seventh round TKO. The real question wasn’t if Arreola would win, but how the slimmed down Arreola would look just 13 days removed from his third round TKO victory over Nagy Aguilera. The answer: pretty good.
Releford came out in round one and attempted to keep Arreola away with some quick jabs. As soon as Arreola got in close, Releford simply covered up while Arreola unloaded with some heavy body shots. The story of the second, third, fourth, and fifth rounds was a left hook, right uppercut combination that Arreola repeatedly used to break through Releford’s guard and rack up the damage. Releford showed no interest in engaging with Arreola.
At end of the fifth round, Arreola rocked Releford for the first time in the fight with straight right. It was clear by the start of the sixth round that the damage was starting to catch up to Releford. A big right hook stunned him and forced him to take a knee. Once the fight resumed, Arreola changed up his strikes and crushed Releford with a left uppercut. In the seventh, Arreola moved in for the kill. He landed another big straight right hand and followed up with a left uppercut that hurt Releford badly. Arreola moved in to put Releford away, but the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight.
Arreola’s punching looked crisp and powerful, and he appeared to have enough gas in the tank to go for all ten rounds if needed. Unfortunately, Releford really didn’t challenge him enough to determine if his defense has improved with his new found dedication to training.
Arreola has definitely made strides to get back to top form, but he is still a long way from being ready for a rematch with Kiltschko. After four tune-up fights, it’s time for him to gauge himself against a game opponent. The logical match-up is Arreola and Tony Thompson, but Thompson already has a date booked with Eddie Chambers. Instead, a fight against a dangerous up-and-comer like Seth Mitchell or Robert Helenius would show if this new Chris Arreola is for real or not.
Also on the card:
Tony Thompson dominated Maurice Harris in the opening bout, winning by a third round TKO. After an uneventful first round, Thompson started to take the fight over in the second by landing some heavy shots to Harris’s head, including a right hook that sent him to the canvas. By the third round, Harris was obviously gassed. Thompson knocked Harris down again in the third with another right hook. Harris was able to get up, but Thompson swarmed and the referee stepped in to stop a wobbly Harris from taking any more damage.
Harris looked sluggish, ineffective, and just generally terrible. With this win the books, Thompson will now move on to his aforementioned IBF Final Eliminator against Eddie Chambers.
The second bout of the evening was a junior middleweight fight between Javier Molina and David Lopez. Molina took home a decision win (60-53, 59-54, 59-54) after a hard fought but one-sided affair. Molina won the first three rounds by utilizing his superior hand speed to land multiple head-body combinations. To his credit, Lopez continued to come out swinging. In the forth and fifth rounds, Lopez tried to push the pace by moving in with a few flurries, but Molina was able to counter effectively and keep the fight firmly in his control.
Overall, a pretty good performance by Molina. He still needs to add some muscle and work on diversifying his striking before he moves up in competition. Lopez showed a lot of heart, but he was simply outclassed.
